“The Briefcase” Exists

Alright, 3 years ago I had an absolute blast directing “The Briefcase” and it gave me the opportunity to collaborate with a ridiculously fantastic group of people. It is now on DVD and you can find it at Wal-Mart, Target, iTunes, Amazon, my house, osirisent.com, and in the not too distant future Netflix. I’d like to thank everyone who worked on it and I can not be more grateful for their hard work and inspiration. I’m incredibly proud of the product as it’s exactly as weird, goofy, and vulgar as it’s suppose to be. As an added bonus, heres the “director’s statement” I always liked, but was never used.

“Hello,

Iʼm Jason Krawczyk and I directed the cinematic debacle known as “The Briefcase.” When I was asked to write a directors statement, my immediate response was “Whatʼs a directorʼs statement?” After googling “Directorʼs Statement” I realized that a “directorʼs statement” is not to explain the ﬁlm, or to tell you how interesting it was to make, or even why itʼs worth watching. The whole purpose of the “Directorʼs Statement” is to apologize to everyone who helped make it possible. Here we go.

I apologize to Keith (Dan) and Kip (Jason) for handcufﬁng them together for an entire movie. I apologize to Lou Sumrall (Hobo) for designing a character whom wears a parka in April. I apologize to Eric Billman (Director of Photography) for adding all those wacky mask cuts. I apologize to Scott Lazar (Assistant Director) for making an action packed crime thiller comedy with little budget and no time. I apologize to Kenneth Simmons (Jay) for having him be dead on the ground throughout the finale. I apologize to Charlie Rowe (Script Supervisor) for adding a ridiculous amount of spilt screens. I apologize to Neal Bellinger (Marketing Manager) for coming up with an unmarketable title. I apologize to any vegetarians on set (there were a lot of slim jims). I apologize to James LeSage for having to hang out with me in a room dark room for two months. I apologize to Nathan Cohen (Prop Master) for having to apply jagged and unruly handcuffs to two perfectly nice people. I apologize to Nashawn Kearse (Silk) for continually injuring the only black character in the entire movie. And I apologize for not adding the rest of the crew with the infinite amount of apologizes they deserve for their hard work, passion, and support.

Filmmaking is the ultimate collaborative art form. It’s a culmination of a diverse group of artists for one 90 minute goal. It’s ridiculous. Months upon years of work can go into a movie and the end result is a minuet fraction of the work put in. So much can go wrong. In every stage of filmmaking there are endless possibilities for disaster. So many variables just waiting to crash and burn. But it could also be said that filmmaking is nothing but endless potential. As many things as there are to go wrong, there are` an equal amount of amazing things that can happen. I like to believe that the latter happened during “The Briefcase.” Everyone worked to their fullest, but more importantly they worked with each other. I would like to thank the entire crew for what they’ve done. They were beyond stupendous. I’m just a director. I mediate the artists and their potential. Ultimately, I just steal their good ideas and blame them for their poor ones. And that’s why I love directing.

-Jason Krawczyk

p.s.

Thank you if you’re still reading this and I hope you like the movie.”